No description available.

No description available.

Massive volumes of hazardous emissions have been produced by the construction sector for which some adequate steps are implemented, but the rising trend of emissions can still be seen. In this thesis, the goal is to identify and analyze renovation measures from primary energy use and environmental impacts perspective, according to Boverket’s mandatory provisions and general recommendations (BBR 2018), for an old school building. Also, as a part of the study goal, the building structure is analyzed under the updated Eurocode SS-EN 90-91-96 in order to see if the building meets structural stability requirements. Life cycle assessment of the building is limited to production and construction stages, and it is used as a tool to evaluate the environmental impacts according to standard SS-EN 15978:2011. Most of the relevant data are provided by VÖFAB, in cooperation with Växjö municipality, as well as the company WSP group. The object of the thesis is an old three-story school building constructed in 1950 in Växjö, Sweden. The gross area of the building is 1,300 m2 and for renovation scenarios, building envelope components are investigated by adding new insulation materials considering two life cycle stages. In the production phase, the lowest primary energy use was 137 kWh/m2 for the scenario of using cellulose insulation material plus windows and exterior doors with a U-value of 1.1 [W/m2 K]. The lowest environmental impacts were also obtained for this scenario, with 14 kg CO2-eq/m2 global warming potential (GWP), 0.06 kg SO2-eq/m2 acidification potential (AP), and 0.06 kg NO3-eq/m2 eutrophication potential (EP). The results indicate that the share of the installation step in the primary energy use and environmental impacts during the construction phase is negligible, but the transportation role in this stage is significant. The highest global warming potential is for the scenario using cellulose insulation material plus windows and exterior doors with a U-value of 0.7 [W/m2 K] with 4.4 kg CO2-eq/m2 in the construction stage. Ultimately, the material production stage accounts for the most share of primary energy use and environmental impacts.  This research provides several renovation measures investigated by life cycle assessment resulting in performing climate declarations. Regarding the sensitivity analysis, the electricity source has a considerable effect on reducing total primary energy consumption and environmental impacts during the production phase. It is also found that the scenario utilizing cellulose insulation material with windows with a U-value of 1.1 [W/m2 K] shows the lowest total primary energy use and environmental impacts. Through analyzing the building structure, all Eurocode criteria within the serviceability limit state (SLS) and ultimate limit state (ULS) are fulfilled, and the structure is still stable when new materials are added through renovation.

No description available.

Wood waste containing formaldehyde based resins are generated yearly and disposed in landfills or burned. No regulations exist in most states and no studies have been conducted to address formaldehyde emission from wood waste buried in landfills. The objective of this study was to: a) determine the amount of formaldehyde released into air and leachate from MDF disposed in a simulated landfill, b) analyze the environmental impacts of leachate containing formaldehyde, and c) investigate change in chemical and morphological properties of disposed MDF. Sampling of MDF, soil and leachate were conducted for determination of formaldehyde weekly for 56 days by HPLC. Environmental impacts of leachate was determined by BOD, COD, and toxicity. Changes in the chemical composition and morphological structures were also determined. No detectable formaldehyde was observed in MDF, soil or leachate after 28 days. The BOD and COD levels indicated the leachate was not suitable for drinking.

Dependence on fossil fuels in the electric sector is one of the major contributors towards Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The increase in renewable contribution has been observed in recent years but there is still potential to utilize wood waste in rural communities for electricity generation promoting energy independence and sustainable development. For this study, a life cycle assessment approach was utilized to estimate the emissions of electricity produced from wood residue in a rural community. Therefore, the process from planting to supply for bioenergy facility to generate electricity are included. The results showed a decrease of 92-96 % in global warming potential resulting from the use of wood residues as compared to that of Grid electricity, natural gas, and coal-fired power plants. Then, a two-layer supply chain network comprising of feedstock supply sites and candidate power plant locations are considered to determine ideal locations for facilitating the bioenergy facility to minimize overall system cost and GHG emissions. The multi objective mathematical model aims to handle various decisions such as power plant location and technology selection, allocation of suppliers to power plants, biomass harvesting, storage, and transportation decisions in the considered supply chain network. The model developed was applied to case study region of Grenada County, Mississippi. The solution with no GHG restriction facilitates higher power plant capacity, 25 MW with lower system cost and satisfies 32.11 % of the total electricity demand of the case study area. Whereas the solution with highest GHG restrictions reduces the power plant capacity to 10 MW, that satisfies 10.22 % of the total electricity demand with increase in total overall system due to the increase in purchase of electricity from external sources as penalty cost. Furthermore, the investigation was extended to multiple counties of Mississippi to determine the feasibility of bioenergy facilities to be located using wood waste as fuel source. The techno-enviro-economic assessment showed the competitiveness of LCOE with the existing electricity supplier as well as other renewable sources such as solar, and wind. The findings of this research can facilitate in decision making process for promoting renewable energy in existing energy supply sources.

Yes / This paper focuses on the robustness of the regulatory system of British Columbia (BC) from the environmental point of view. It argues that the enforcement of existing regulations is effective due to the active monitoring of compliance by the provincial oil and gas regulator. The regulator has a key role in promoting transparency, public participation and safety and sustainability of shale gas operations. The paper argues that although certain elements in the provincial legislative framework are covered by non-binding guidelines, rather than legislation, the regulator has responded to many of the concerns raised by the public over the shale gas development in BC, including impacts on regional air quality, fresh water contamination and access to water, deforestation, biodiversity and induced seismicity. The regulator has also recognized several key issues, such as baseline water monitoring as an issue requiring further research. This paper concludes that BC has one of the most robust regulatory systems in North America for regulating hydraulic fracturing.

Submitted by Marco Antonio Oliveira da Silva (maosilva@ipen.br) on 2016-12-22T12:01:06Z No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-22T12:01:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Os cosméticos labiais estão envolvidos em duas importantes discussões: os problemas de saúde pública e os problemas ambientais. A partir dessas informações, pretende-se analisar qual o impacto na saúde humana, verificar se há relação entre preço, duração e cor e investigar quais os prováveis impactos para o meio ambiente, supondo algumas vias de descarte. Os cosméticos analisados foram batons, divididos por marca, preço e cor. A primeira análise foi por fluorescência de raios-x (FRX). Em seguida, as matérias primas passaram por digestão com ácido nítrico e clorídrico sob aquecimento e foram diluídas com água destilada e filtradas. A seguir, foram realizadas leituras por espectrometria de emissão óptica com plasma indutivamente acoplado (ICP-OES). A partir dos resultados da análise por FRX (foram encontrados 18 elementos metálicos) e a matriz para análise por ICP-OES foi composta por: alumínio, cálcio, cádmio, cobalto, cromo, cobre, ferro, potássio, manganês, níquel, chumbo, silício e titânio. Apesar de terem sido identificados metais tóxicos (Ni, Mn, Cd e Cr) nas amostras, os batons analisados cumprem com o requerido pela legislação nacional em relação aos limites impostos para metais pesados (Pb, Cd, Ni, Cr e Mn) em cosméticos e alimentos. Entretanto, é importante destacar que as legislações cosmética e alimentícia possuem grandes diferenças quanto aos limites impostos para metais pesados. O estudo do descarte dos batons mostrou que mesmo os batons que são mais utilizados, há um desperdício de quase 1/3 do produto por conta da embalagem interna. Essa informação pode auxiliar em um consumo consciente dos batons, tanto para a quantidade desperdiçada, quanto ao risco associado à utilização de um conjunto de maquiagens (bases, sombras, rímel, blush e batom) com outros cosméticos (cremes, perfumes, esmaltes, tintas para cabelo). Risco esse, associado a possíveis problemas à saúde. / Dissertação (Mestrado em Tecnologia Nuclear) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

O presente estudo avalia a percepção de potenciais usuários da Hidrovia Tocantins-Araguaia sobre seus possíveis impactos econômicos, sociais e ambientais em 7 municípios, no Estado do Tocantins. Foram entrevistados 24 indivíduos representantes do poder público, da iniciativa privada, de entidades de classe e de organizações não-governamentais ambientalistas. Como evidência de campo, verificou-se que, no rio Araguaia, a limitada infra-estrutura operacional, instalada em 1998, está completamente deteriorada e que as embarcações estão sem uso desde 2000. No rio Tocantins, verificou-se a inexistência de eclusas que permitam vencer os desníveis naturais mais agressivos, aumentando a navegabilidade e possibilitando o tráfego dos comboios. Diante disso, pode-se afirmar que a Hidrovia ainda está longe de se consolidar como um modal de transporte alternativo para o Estado. Quanto à opinião dos entrevistados, de modo geral,consideram interessante, oportuna e estratégica a presença da Hidrovia Tocantins-Araguaia em seus municípios, principalmente para o transporte de insumos e produtos. A despeito da pouca nformação de que dispunham sobre sua dimensão, potencial e impactos, manifestaram expectativas positivas quanto aos aspectos econômicos e sociais e negativas quanto aos ambientais. Vários assinalaram que o lento processo de implantação compromete sua inserção nos projetos institucionais ou empresariais e causa descrença sobre sua consolidação. A análise estatística dos dados de campo, realizada através de uma regressão do tipo stepwise, revela que os agentes econômicos relacionam a importância da Hidrovia Tocantins-Araguaia para seus municípios aos impactos econômicos, sociais e ambientais que ela possa causar. Os resultados individuais mostraram-se significativos, segundo o nível de probabilidade "p", para as variáveis selecionadas pelo modelo, sob α = 0,20(erro tipo I) estabelecido à priori. Foram significativos e positivos os coeficientes das variáveis geração de emprego e renda, oferta de serviços estruturais municipais e valor das propriedades ribeirinhas e, negativos, os coeficientes das variáveis conhecimento e informação sobre a hidrovia, atividades de indústria e comércio, atividades de turismo e oferta de serviços sociais municipais. A variável atividades de agricultura não foi significativa. O grupo focal, realizado com a finalidade de ampliar a discussão qualitativa sobre a Hidrovia Tocantins-Araguaia, foi consensual em relação aos benefícios econômicos e sociais proporcionados ao Estado do Tocantins e aos circunvizinhos. Porém, alertou sobre os possíveis impactos negativos no meio ambiente, especialmente no Rio Araguaia. Em linhas gerais, o estudo permitiu concluir pela necessidade e benefícios de serem consideradas as impressões qualitativas dos potenciais usuários na avaliação de viabilidade econômica de projetos de infra-estrutura de transporte. Tais impressões serviriam como parâmetros de ponderação dos aspectos quantitativos levantados pelo empreendedor, favorecendo a escolha do empreendimento mais adequado sob o ponto de vista econômico, social e ambiental. Sobre a implantação efetiva da Hidrovia Tocantins-Araguaia, no Estado do Tocantins, alerta-se para os impactos que ela possa causar. Ainda que sob o ponto de vista comum sejam esperados benefícios econômicos e sociais, sob o ponto de vista ambiental a sensação é de perda de qualidade. O Rio Araguaia, pela sua juventude e fragilidade dos ecossistemas que congrega,exige tratamento especial, baseado num cuidadoso plano de intervenções, que respeite suas características naturais, bem como as das espécies e populações que o habitam, inclusive a humana. O Rio Tocantins, ainda que menos indefeso pela sua maior idade, precisa de tratamento adequado, uma vez que dele depende não só a Hidrovia Tocantins e o projeto multimodal de transporte mas,também, todo o projeto de geração de energia hidrelétrica do Estado. / The present study aims to evaluate the perception of potential users of the Tocantins-Araguaia Waterway concerning the possibility of economic, social and environmental impacts in 7 municipalities, in the State of Tocantins. For this purpose, 24 individuals representing the government, private sector and non-government environmental organizations, have been interviewed. Field evidences shows that in the Araguaia River the limited operational infrastructure, installed in 1998, is completely deteriorated and that the ships have not been used since the year 2000. It has been, in the Tocantins River, noticed the nonexistence of dams, which allow to regulate the more aggressive natural differences in the river levels, increasing the navigability of the convoys. Therefore, it can be stated that the waterway is still far from it’s consolidation as a transportation alternative for this State. As for the opinion of those who have been interviewed, in general, the presence of the Tocantins- Araguaia Waterway in their municipalities is considered interesting and strategic, mainly for the transportation of inputs and finished goods. Despite the little information available as to its dimension, potential and impacts, positive expectation have been manifested as to economic and social aspects, and negative as to environmental aspects. Several of them stated that the slow process of implantation difficult its introduction in the projects or enterprises and causes the incredibility over its consolidation. The statistical analysis of the field data, made through a stepwise regression reveals that the economic agents relates the importance of the Tocantins-Araguaia Waterway for their municipalities to the economic, social and environmental impacts that it might cause. The individual results are significant, according to the confidence level p , for the variables selected by the model, under α = 0,20 (tipe I error) à priori determined. The coefficients of the variables job creation and income improvement, municipal social service offer and the value of the water side properties were significant and positive and the coefficients of the variables knowledge and information on waterway, commercial and industrial activities, tourism activities, and the municipal social service offer, were negative. The variable agricultural activities was not significant. The focal group about Tocantins-Araguaia Waterway was consensual over the economic and social benefits for the State of Tocantins. However, the group warned about possible negative impacts in the environment, especially in the Araguaia River. In general, the study permitted to conclude for the necessity and benefits to consider the qualitative impressions of the potential users in the evaluation of the economic viability of transportation infrastructure projects. Such impressions would serve as parameters of the qualitative aspects brought forward by the entrepreneur, improving the choice of the most adequate enterprise under the economic, social and environmental aspects. As for the effective implantation of the Tocantins-Araguaia Waterway, in the State of Tocantins, the impacts that it may cause should be brought forward. Although economic and social benefits are expected, the perception is of loss of the environmental quality. The Araguaia River, because of its youth and ecosystems fragility, demands a special treatment, based on a careful plan of interventions, that respects its natural characteristics, as well as the species and populations that inhabit it, including the human. The Tocantins River also needs a proper treatment due to the Tocantins Waterway, the multimodal transportation and the hydroelectric generation projects of the State, which depends on it.

O estado de Rondonia possui hoje o 8° maior rebanho bovino do pais. Essa caracteristica o torna urn estado essencialmente pecuarista, muito embora ja se perceba um avanco na atividade agricola. Em termos de impacto ambiental, a pecuaria é extremamente agressiva, pois nas praticas antigas de manejo do gado era comum a conversdo direta da floresta em pastagem e consecutivas queimas nos primeiros anos para a limpeza da biomassa remanescente da floresta. Este trabalho tem por objetivo avaliar possiveis alteracOes na biogeoquimica das aguas do rio Urupd mediante esse cenario de contraste entre areas que preservam as caracteristicas naturais e areas corn elevado grau de perturbacao. Corn este intuito, foram realizadas amostragens em seis pontos ao longo do rio Urupd, de forma a termos um gradativo cendrio de perturbacdo no use do solo. 0 primeiro ponto refere-se ao setor da nascente, e é o mais preservado da bacia, corn praticamente 100% de suas caracteristicas naturais, ao passo que o Ultimo, que abrange toda a bacia de drenagem, mantem aproximadamente 51% de floresta. Para essas unidades de drenagens foram analisadas as concentraeOes de ions maiores (Nat, Kt, Mg2+, Ca2+, HCO3\", CY e SO42), de carbono organic° dissolvido (COD), e a razao isotOpica do carbono inorganic° dissolvido (613C do CID). Em geral, os resultados mostraram que, apesar da quantidade de pastagem aumentar de uma unidade de drenagem para outra, e as concentracCies de ions dissolvidos aumentarem consideravelmente, as diferencas nas concentracOes apresentam melhor relacdo coin a distribuicao da Capacidade Efetiva de Troca de Cations, caracteristica inerente dos solos. Portanto, em termos das concentracOes de ions maiores, apesar do extenso desmatamento, ndo ha indicios de que os processos naturais tenham sido suplantados por antropogenicos como principais fatores determinantes da dinamica neste sistema. Contudo, a distribuicdo espacial e temporal das concentraceies de carbono organic° dissolvido demonstram que o aumento do percentual de pastagens relaciona-se corn concentracOes significativamente maiores desta forma de C nas aguas do canal principal. A composicao isot6pica (613C) do carbono inorganic° dissolvido demonstrou que, nos setores mais a juzante da bacia do rio Urupd, a quimica das aguas e predominantemente determinada por processos de intemperismo de rochas carbonatadas / The state of Rondonia has the 8th largest cow herd of the country. This characteristic makes it a state where cattle raising dominates the landscape, although other agricultural uses are becoming noticeable. In terms of environmental impacts cattle raising is extremely aggressive, since early practices were based on slash and burn techniques. This study intends to evaluate changes in the biogeochemistry of the Urupá river waters in such a scenario of remaining pristine areas and heavily impacted ones. In order to understand that, 6 sampling stations were established along the river, at different degrees of land use changes. The first station refers to the headwaters and is the most pristine reach, with almost 100% of its original vegetation, whereas the the last corresponds to the whole basin and has only 51% or remaining forests. The waters where analyzed for the concentrations of major ions (Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, HCO3-, Cl- e SO42-), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and the isotopic composition (?13C) of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). Generally, the results show that, although the percentages of pasture and major ion concentrations increase significantly along the basin, the latter relates better with a natural characteristic of the soils, which is the effective cation exchange capacity. Consequently, in terms of the ionic concentration of these waters, even with the extensive deforestation observed in the basin, it is not possible to conclude that anthropogenic processes have overcome natural ones as main forces driving the dynamics of this system. However spatial and temporal DOC distributions show that pastures are directly related to increases of this form of C in these waters. DIC isotopic composition (?13C) shows that the chemistry of the Urupá river lower reaches is controlled by the weathering of carbonate rocks